Abstract

Hailed by Western critics as "the best novel in the 60s", Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, a famous American novelist, is a typical post-modernist work and a masterpiece for the genre of "black humor". The novel indirectly shows the ridiculous warfare and a desperate world, exposing the corrupt fact that the collusion exists between the bureaucracy and monopolistic capital and the crisis of faith people face in such a disordered state of spiritual condition. "Language games" and "absurd philosophy" are two main features in post-modernist literary works. This thesis analyzes the two characteristics represented in Catch-22.
Chapter One is the introduction to the main points and the structure of this thesis. It emphasizes on the contemporary criticisms from home and abroad, thus naturally presents the focus points of this thesis.
Chapter Two provides some background information about Joseph Heller, plot of Catch-22, and the main features of post-modernist works.
Chapter Three starts from the post-modernist language philosophy theory such as discourse theory and metafiction. Combined with Heller's bibliography and the background of the times, it describes the emerging background, foundation and application of "language game" and analyses three dimensions by using specific examples from Catch-22: word ambiguity, contradiction and paradox as well as non-continuity.
Chapter Four devotes to the absurdity in the society and social psychology, and then respectively states the theme of the novel, characters and structure and explores social, political, religious as well as psychological aspects of the innuendo meaning of the novel, revealing the spiritual enlightenment and the revelation for contemporary social development. It allows readers to get a better understanding of the theme, the author's world view, the stylish structure and a variety of experimental art practices.
Chapter Five describes the blending of "language games" and “absurd philosophy” in the novel. Interconnected with each other, they constitute the most important factors that represented the entire thrust of the novel.
Finally, in the conclusion part, the above sections are summarized and further analysis of the practical significance of the work is presented.

Key words: Post-modernism, language games, absurd philosophy

摘要

美国著名小说家约瑟夫•海勒的《第二十二条军规》是后现代主义“黑色幽默”流派的奠基作，被西方评论界誉为“60年代最好的一部小说”。该作品通过战争间接表现了一个不可理喻、令人绝望的世界，揭露了美国社会官僚资本勾结的腐败本质和人们在这种状态下的精神信仰危机。“语言游戏”和“荒诞哲学”是后现代主义文学作品的两个主要特征，本文着重分析了《第二十二条军规》中体现的这两个特征。
本文引文部分首先简要介绍本论文的研究内容及意义、论文结构，并重点介绍了《第二十二条军规》的国内外研究现状，提出本论文的研究方向。第二章主要对作家、作品及后现代主义小说的主要特征等进行简要介绍，使读者具备相关背景知识和文学理论知识。第三章以元小说、反体裁等后现代语言哲学理论的基础为出发点，结合海勒的时代背景，介绍“语言游戏”的产生背景、基础及运用，并对小说中的语言游戏从三个方向进行具体事例的分析：词语歧义、悖论式的矛盾和非连续性。第四章分析了小说社会背景和社会心理的荒诞性，然后分别从小说主题、人物和结构上阐述，探寻小说对社会政治、宗教、心理等方面的影射意义，揭示小说对人类精神和当代社会发展的启示，让读者对作品的主题、作者的世界观、作品文体结构及各种实验性艺术手法的有更深的了解。第五章介绍了“语言游戏”和“荒诞哲学”在小说中的交融，二者相互贯通，构成了整部小说最重要的表现主旨的因素。第六章为结语部分，总结以上各章节内容，并进一步分析了作品创作的现实意义。

关键词：后现代主义；语言游戏；荒诞哲学